Would you swap your plane ticket for a seat on a zeppelin?

Washington Post

15-05-2025

A century ago, zeppelin passengers soared across the Atlantic Ocean in luxurious gondolas hanging from humongous hydrogen-filled balloons — the biggest aircraft humanity has ever built. Then, in 1937, the Hindenburg crashed and burned, and the future of the airship industry went up in smoke.
Now, a handful of start-ups want to revive the airship as an alternative for some cargo and passenger flights.
The new zeppelins would be much safer, the involved companies say, thanks to materials, technology and weather forecasts that aviators in the 1930s could only dream of. And boosters argue that modern airships could offer a low-carbon and inexpensive way to transport goods and travel.
Whereas airplanes burn thousands of gallons of kerosene per hour in their jet engines to stay in the air, the zeppelins in development need a few dozen gallons of diesel fuel per hour, in combination with battery power, cutting harmful emissions by up to 90 percent, companies claim.
And because these craft use much less fuel, the idea is that it should translate into lower costs for shippers.
The zeppelin revival faces skeptics, though. Among them is John J. Geoghegan, author of 'When Giants Ruled the Sky,' a history of the airship industry.
Companies have tried — and failed — to bring back airships every decade or two since the Hindenburg, he said. Every time, the dream has run into a hard economic reality: They haven't found a way to make money.
'The next generation of airships today are quite effective at reducing carbon emissions,' Geoghegan said. 'The question is whether the market will support enough of them for them to make a significant contribution to reducing climate change.'
The new zeppelins are still in the early days of their development — none are yet certified to fly. But LTA Research, a start-up backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has begun testing a zeppelin-like airship, adapting a historic California hangar built for Navy spy blimps as space for construction and storage.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) is building a factory in Britain that it says will crank out two dozen ships per year by 2030 to carry cargo and tourists. The French government has backed another start-up, Flying Whales, which plans to build an airship factory in Quebec in 2027 and begin commercial operations by 2029.
These modern craft are designed to be sturdier than the zeppelins of yore. Aluminum, copper and wooden frames have given way to carbon fiber and titanium. Crude instruments and steering wheels reminiscent of sailing ships have been replaced by computerized controls and sensors that should allow for precise maneuvering.
'If you went into the gondola, it would look like a commercial aircraft … like you were in a Boeing or an Airbus,' said Brett Crozier, CEO of LTA Research.
The specific designs vary. LTA Research and Flying Whales are following the example of the old zeppelins, using sturdy rings to hold the shape of their long, lighter-than-air balloons. HAV's hybrid airship is like a mix between a blimp (which by definition doesn't have a rigid structure) and a plane. Its balloon is slightly heavier than air, but its shape helps generate lift as it moves forward, which pushes it into the sky.
One thing they all have in common is their massive size. Airships' balloons need to be huge to lift their gondolas off the ground. 'There's no such thing as a small airship, period,' said Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba.
When LTA Research floats its 400-foot-long Pathfinder 1 airship out of the hangar for a test flight, it's the biggest aircraft in the world. But this is just a prototype for an even bigger version the company plans to use commercially. HAV's airship is 300 feet long and can carry 11 tons of cargo or about 100 passengers. Flying Whales plans to build a 600-foot airship that can carry 60 tons.
The engineers have understandably thought a lot about fire risk. The modern prototypes are designed to float using nonflammable helium instead of hydrogen, which cuts the fire risk but invites other challenges. Helium is a scarce, nonrenewable resource that faces regular shortages and price hikes. Companies collect helium as a by-product of natural gas extraction, but — unlike hydrogen — they can't manufacture it: The only way to make helium is at the center of a star or through the slow decay of radioactive elements like uranium.
Ultimately, the fate of airships depends on finding a niche in the transport and transportation markets.
'I've been on an airship, and it's a tremendous experience. It's graceful. It's poetic,' Geoghegan said. 'But commercial markets are very hard-nosed, and they're not into poetry and grace. They want a return on investment.'
Airship company executives say they can hit a sweet spot that isn't covered by planes or trucks. 'You can either send things expensively and quickly, or cheaply and slowly,' said Diana Little, co-founder of airship start-up Anumá Aerospace. 'This is the middle way that doesn't exist right now.'
According to the latest designs, the new airships would tend to max out at about 80 mph. They could beat trucks crawling along interstates in traffic. They'd be much slower than commercial airliners, though, which tend to cruise at between 550 and 600 mph.
Some airfreight and tourist flights don't have to move at jet speed, airship boosters argue. They can take it slow to go green.
Globally, cargo flights warm the planet about as much as 22 million cars, and their greenhouse emissions are rising, according to a 2024 report from the environmental nonprofit Stand.earth.
'We don't need cargo jets. There's very little trade that needs to go that fast,' Prentice said. He pointed out that airlines often convert the oldest and least-efficient passenger planes into cargo carriers. 'They're the most polluting form of air transport, and that's what airships should replace.'
As a way to move goods, airships may be most appealing for airfreight that can wait a couple of days for delivery, bulky cargo that won't fit on planes and deliveries to places without runways or roads. The French government originally invested in Flying Whales because it was interested in hauling timber out of remote forests. But the company's leaders say its craft could also carry massive wind turbine blades or pylons for power transmission lines into places that planes or trucks can't easily reach, or carry aid into disaster areas where infrastructure is wrecked.
As far as passenger flights, the greatest potential may be for tourist travel where the novelty of an airship is part of the experience, experts say. HAV has struck deals to sell its airships to tourism operators that plan to sell seats onboard as a luxurious and scenic way to cruise between Mediterranean islands, cross the Scottish highlands or fly over the Arctic.
Although airships don't need much infrastructure at their destination, they need large clearings or mooring poles to allow them to load and unload. They also need to operate within about 500 miles of their massive, specialized hangars: The LTA Research hangar in California, for instance, covers seven acres under a roof so high that fog sometimes forms near the ceiling.
Geoghegan, the airship historian, says he'll believe the revival when he sees it. 'I would love to see airships flying through the sky,' he said. 'But I don't think that specialized cargo, or disaster relief, or even specialized tourism is a big enough market to really sustain these companies.'